feldspar. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

feldspar

SYLLABICATION:	feld·spar
PRONUNCIATION:	fldspär, fl-
VARIANT FORMS:	also fel·spar (fl-)
NOUN:	Any of a group of abundant rock-forming minerals occurring principally in igneous, plutonic, and some metamorphic rocks, and consisting of silicates of aluminum with potassium, sodium, calcium, and, rarely, barium. About 60 percent of the earth's outer crust is composed of feldspar.
ETYMOLOGY:	Partial translation of obsolete German Feldspath : Feld, field (from Middle High German veld, from Old High German feld; see pel-² in Appendix I) + Spath, spar.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.